Suspected Stalker Inquired: 'Yet Suppose I Could Be Madeleine?'
A woman accused with pursuing Kate McCann apparently deposited her a voicemail message which asked: "imagine I am Madeleine?"
Julia Wandelt, 24, who a jury heard has repeatedly declared she was the vanished Madeleine McCann, and Karen Spragg are standing trial accused with harassing Kate and Gerry McCann from June 2022 and February 2025.
On Monday, the court learned call records and data obtained from phones documented Ms Wandelt repeatedly requesting Madeleine's mother for a biological test throughout that period.
Madeleine's case in 2007 - when she was three years old during a vacation in Portugal - is among the most publicized missing child cases and continues to be open.
'I Am Not Seeking Money'
One phone message, presented in court, captured Ms Wandelt declaring: "I realize I'm overweight and unattractive like Madeleine was, but I know what I know."
While another instance of Ms Wandelt's one-way conversations with Mrs McCann's voicemail expressed: "Suppose there is a slight possibility that I am she? What then? Wouldn't that be important for you?"
"I do not need money, I possess a existence here in Poland, I just want to understand," she added.
The jury was advised that through emails, SMS messages and communications, Ms Wandelt requested a genetic test, transmitted childhood photos to her phone in a effort to display a resemblance to Mrs McCann's disappeared daughter, and claimed to have "memories" from a early life with the McCanns.
An intelligence analyst, an intelligence analyst with law enforcement who gathered the information, told the court there "seemed to lack any replies" from Mrs McCann.
Ms Wandelt also contacted acquaintances of the McCanns, as per the communication logs.
On 9 October 2024, Mr McCann picked up a call from Ms Wandelt to his wife's phone, stating she had "incorrect contact information."
On that occasion Ms Wandelt left a recording on Mrs McCann's voicemail saying "I will continue and I intend to demonstrate my claim."
The court learned Mrs Spragg established a association via internet with Ms Wandelt preceding assisting her on a appearance to the McCanns' property in the county in that winter.
Communication data demonstrated Mrs Spragg had reached out using communication app to Mrs McCann to express the press had depicted Ms Wandelt as "mentally unstable" but that she should be taken seriously in the period preceding the appearance to the village, Leicestershire, in December 2024.
The court was told correspondence between the two individuals, in last November, considering attempting to obtain Mrs McCann's genetic material from her trash or from silverware at a eating establishment.
"We have to assert ourselves," Mrs Spragg told Ms Wandelt.
On the occasion of the trip to their residence, the defendant sent a message which stated: "We are sitting outside the McCanns' home with our lights out resembling private investigators. I desired to accomplish this with Peter Andrew I never thought I would be engaged in this with the McCanns."
The trial continues.
